Movie Review

Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame, directed by Hana Makmalbhaf is a story about a little girl in Bamiyan named Bakhtay who faces a lot of obstacles during her journey to a girl school. The child actress, portrayed by Nikbakht Noruz lives in the caves under the remains of the Buddhas of Bamyan which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The movie revolves around poverty among the local residents, indifference of mother towards children, discrimination against women, children violence and the effect of war on the local children.

The story begins with a little boy, Abbas reading loudly, only to be scolded by his neighbor for interrupting her child’s sleep. As a result, he is tied up by his mother but continues to read loudly. This attracts the attention of Bakhtay who is also annoyed by his voice and starts to complain. In return, he mocks and insults Bakhtay for unable to read and assumes that she is jealous of him. After a short while, she starts to show some interest in his reading when he repeatedly says ‘A man was sleeping under the tree. A nut fell on his head. The man stood up and said ‘luckily it is not a pumpkin, otherwise it would have killed me.’ The clearly intrigued Bakhtay now wants to go to school. She asks Abbas to bring her to school. But she has neither notebook nor pencil. He then instructed her to sell eggs in the market after failing to search for her mother. In the market, she works hard to sell the eggs, but is ignored by a lot of people. Hearing that bread is wanted, she gives up the eggs in exchange for bread. She successfully receives ten rupees and bought a notebook. Bakhtay smartly obtains her mother’s lipstick as a substitute for a pencil as she could not afford to buy it. Just as she thinks that she can finally join the class, she is sent off by the teacher. Abbas is punished for being late. On her way to a girl school across the riverbank, she is stopped and bullied by a group of boys, playing war games. Poor Bakhtay is humiliated and her notebook is ripped off and folded into airplanes. In the cave, another group of girls is seen and they are captured by having lipstick, beautiful wolf eyes and so on which are thought to be ‘sinful’ by the boys. However, she manages to flee and continues her way to the school. Unfortunately, no one offers her a seat and when another girl initiates the action of making up the girls using a lipstick, she is blamed and ultimately kicked out from the class by the teacher. Accepting the fact that she is unwanted, Bakhtay rings the school bell and sits on the empty chair, reading the phrases to herself. On her way back home, Abbas and Bakhtay are surrounded by the same group of boys. Abbas pretends to be dead after the boys ‘shoots’ him. During this moment, Bakhtay runs to the field and drops herself to the ground when Abbas shouts ‘In order to live, you have to die’.

After hearing Abbas’ reading, Bakhtay dreams of going to school because she wants to learn funny stories and be able to read. Abbas has repeatedly mock and insult Bakhtay for her inability to read. Having a high self-esteem, she denies the statement and bravely reads in front of him despite not knowing any of it. She is fascinated by Abbas’ schoolbook because she finds it funny when he says ‘A man was sleeping under the tree. A nut fell on his head. The man stood up and said ‘luckily it is not a pumpkin, otherwise it would have killed me.’ She smiles brightly and wants to learn more of it. Her desire for knowledge can be seen here. Although technically she does not attend the class, she does realize her dream. There is one scene whereby she sits on a chair and starts reading to herself. She herself says that she learns on her own. Bakhtay’s notebook has appeared numerous time. It plays an important part in the film. To learn reading and writing, you must have something to write on as this allows practices. But sadly, after the hardship Bakhtay has been through for obtaining the notebook, it has been repeatedly tear off and used as a fun tool. We always see her book being stripped away from her, indicating that she is denied an opportunity to obtain knowledge. In Malaysia, we could easily obtain stationary and books anywhere we want. We could never think that to some people, buying a notebook or going to school seems like an impossible mission because they are simply too poor. The lipstick too can be seen repeatedly in the movie. Although it is just a small little red thing, it triggers a lot of events. When Bakhtay cannot afford to buy a pencil, she uses the lipstick which shows how smart she is to be able to think out of the box. However, the lipstick causes troubles for her as well. In her place, having make up and being beautiful are considered as sinful. When she is caught for having a lipstick, the boys want to stone her as a punishment. When a girl starts making up other girls, she is blamed to cause this to happen.

The messages in the movie are conveyed well in the sense that we could observe and even feel the feelings of Bakhtay when she faces problems during her journey. Poverty is clearly shown in the movie. Families living in caves where there is little light source instead of normally build houses. Baby receiving glucose water instead of milk. Selling eggs and making trips just to buy a notebook. Bakhtay’s mother seems to neglect her education and she is forced to take care of the baby at home. In the society’s point of view, women should not receive any form of education. Working and taking care of the family are their jobs. This clearly shows that women are discriminated and thought to be funny for wanting to study. They have little rights and are always overpowered by men. On the other hand, children violence are portrayed. We could see how war has affected and polluted the mind of the children. Throughout their childhood, they are always dealing with violence. As a result, they exhibit aggression and playing mean so called ‘war games’ and of course bully the weak.

I feel sad while watching this film and become guilty towards the end of the show. Seeing people struggling and going through all the obstacles just to obtain knowledge while myself just sit back there and is sent to school without difficulties. I have never thought that this could happen in real life. All I can say is I am blessed with opportunities and I am going to appreciate it more.’ In order to live , you have to die’ is a statement which is contradicting to me. How can a person die in order to live? But in this movie, we can see that the message is not just about death and living. It is about freeing yourself from violence. You have to suffer before you can get what you desire. Just like the heroes protecting our country. They had fought with the enemies and freed us from their bloody and cruel rule. They sacrificed their lives for us. So basically, this means going through difficulties is a necessity before having the chance to realise our dream. The child actors are brilliant in portraying their roles. Maybe this is because they live in the condition like in the movie and they sort of portraying their lives instead of acting one. In a nut shell, I have to conclude that war affects people, physically and emotionally. The people suffer from poverty and children have very little future prospect because of lack of education. I believe there are thousands of children facing the same problem like Bakhtay and people around the world should really think and help them as much as possible for education is a priceless item where nobody can rob it. I rate this film 4/5 stars for being realistic about the life in a war country. This is really a good movie about struggles and obstacles we have to face in real life.

To those who are interested in this film, you can watch it here